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11/22/2004 Dr. Atkins guarantees you will lose weight by cutting out carbs (carbohydrate foods) and eating mostly animal protein. This “new” diet has been around since the late ‘70s. Don’t trade a few pounds for serious health risks.
If you are just about to try the “Low Carb Diet” to lose weight, as outlined by Dr. Atkins, read this first. You could be trading the LOSS of a few pounds with the GAIN of some serious health problems.
Dr. Atkins, in the late ‘70s became very rich promoting a high fat, high protein diet through his books and a large line of Atkins products. However, the scientific community never accepted his diet as even safe, let alone health producing. As it has resurfaced again, it is still considered a health risk.
“Carbs” is current jargon for carbohydrate. Carbohydrate has been the primary source of energy throughout the world. The reasons are:
1. They are widely distributed in a variety of easily grown plants
2. The cost of carbohydrates in the total food budget is relatively small
3. Carbohydrates provide a quick and sustained body fuel
The very large or complex carbohydrates (ones with many long and branched carbon chains) are starches. These are found in whole grains, whole fruit and vegetables and legumes. If this complex carbohydrate is broken down into its smallest unites, it is a simple carbohydrate, sometimes called a sugar. The breaking down of the units can be done as the plant grows or during digestion. Therefore, foods may contain many different carbohydrates, some simple all the way to complex.
For example, the more a fruit ripens, the more of the complex carbohydrate is broken down into sugars. As humans chew and digest whole grains, the complex carbohydrate is broken down into sugars. If you want to experiment with this, chew a piece of bread until the faint sweet taste becomes apparent. An unripe apple is tart. Fully ripened, that same apple is sweet.
The advantage of complex carbohydrates is that they have fiber, vitamins and minerals. Sugar, such as table sugar, syrup, honey, etc., has no fiber and no nutritive value. Simple carbohydrates, sugars, have quick energy for the body, but little else of value. Complex carbohydrates have sustained energy in addition to fiber, vitamins and minerals.
Weight loss can be achieved by reducing calories in the diet, no matter how it is done. We acquire calories from 4 sources:
Carbohydrate supplies 4 calories per gram
Protein supplies 4 calories per gram
Alcohol supplies 7 calories per gram
Fat supplies 9 calories per gram
Unfortunately, a calorie is a calorie is a calorie. Once it is metabolized into your body it has only one of two fates – it can either be stored or it can be used as energy. There is no magical way to flush out or get rid of that calorie. Also, it seems evident that the longer it is stored as fat, the harder it is to get rid of.
Since 1975, the per capita consumption of fat has increased by 10 pounds each year. The per capita intake of carbohydrate has increased by 20 pounds each year in the same amount of time. Surveys show that we are choosing, as our carbohydrates, ever more sweets and desserts. When a simple carbohydrate food (sugar, honey, syrup, white flour, white rice, etc.) is eaten, it contains little fiber and is absorbed quickly. This triggers blood glucose to spike forcing excess insulin to rush into the blood stream.
Rapidly, part of the insulin covers the blood glucose leaving the unused insulin to drop blood glucose to a low level. Low blood glucose increases hunger and increases the desire to eat more simple carbohydrates. What a cycle! To compound this, a diet high in simple carbohydrates often increases the triglyceride level.
Protein foods do not react in this way, they are absorbed more slowly and leave a feeling of satiety. Fat is absorbed even more slowly. A high protein high fat diet often prevents sever hunger pangs, but provides little fiber. Dr. Atkins advocated a diet of high animal proteins such as bacon, sausage, butter, steak, pork rinds and Brie. Doesn’t this sound like a heart attack waiting to happen? Yet Dr. Atkins claimed his diet actually reduced the risk of coronary vascular disease.
It appears that HDL, the “good” cholesterol that carries blood cholesterol back to the liver, rises on Dr. Atkins diet. This appears to happen because on a high fat and cholesterol diet, the body makes more HDL because there is more cholesterol to transport. There is no proof that this actually reduces the risk of heart disease. Dr. Atkins or his colleagues did no true “measures of disease” for coronary heart disease. Healthy vegetarians and vegans who eat only a little cholesterol have low HDL numbers because they do not have much cholesterol to transport.
I think you will agree that we need to eat sparingly of simple carbohydrates. If you severely restrict carbohydrates, this is what you will be missing. Complex carbohydrates or unrefined carbohydrates, which include fruit, vegetables, legumes and whole grains, are rich in fiber. Fiber slows digestion and increases satiety therefore keeping the blood glucose level from spiking.
The foods listed above are the main source of phytochemicals, bioflavonoids, carotenoids, retinols, sulforaphanes, isoflavones polyphenols and a host of other substances, which are known to reduce the risk of many chronic diseases. To date, no supplements, no matter how expensive contain all these ingredients in an absorbable form. Another big bonus of these foods is they do not have cholesterol, saturated fat, oxidants or other disease-promoting substances. Excellent health reasons influenced top health and nutrition experts in the United States to design the Food Guide Pyramid with whole grains as the foundation of our diet and with protein and fat a much smaller portion.
Are you thinking twice about the Low Carb Diet? I presume before you want to discard the diet you want to tell me about all the people you know who have lost many, many pounds using Dr. Atkins diet. It is true – many have lost weight, but at what cost?
Why do people lose weight on this diet? Think about it. If you gave up all carbohydrates, how would your diet change? You would not eat dessert, candy, sugared drinks, jams and jelly, chips, most snack foods, cold cereals, doughnuts, pastries, pasta, potatoes, fruit and fruit drinks, cooked vegetables, and so much more. This would not only change the way you eat but reduce the amount and kind of food you eat.
Also consider the high calorie foods that you usually use in conjunction with the above foods. No potatoes to lather with sour cream and butter. No chips to layer with chip dip. Nothing to use under whipped cream. No ice cream drowned in hot chocolate syrup. In place of these, just how much bacon could you eat day after day after day? Or how much steak? Those who have tried it have reported that very soon they tire of the regime and eat very little.
Or, they pig out on double chocolate cake and ice cream. After days of a low carb diet, eating a large serving of sweets will encourage the fat cells (adipose tissue) to absorb extra water. The dieter steps on the scales and is devastated to see he/she has “gained” 3 or 4 pounds overnight!. These pounds are not adipose tissue, but merely extra water. But the emotional jolt sends him/her back to following the diet with a new passion.
Seventy percent of those on the high protein low carb diet report constipation. Constipation coupled with a low fiber diet increases the risk of cancer and elevated cholesterol. Sixty-five percent reported headaches. So, why do so many believe this is a wonderful way to lose weight?
1. The first few pounds appear to drop away by magic. This is because of the drastic reduction in carbohydrates, which results in a rapid release of body water. This is not losing body fat; it is only body water, which can be gained back just as quickly.
2. High protein gives a feeling of satiety so sever hunger is not as apparent.
3. Burning fat without carbohydrates creates “ketones”, these are by products that build up in your blood stream. This causes “ketosis” which usually decreases appetite. Pronged ketosis may deplete mineral stores in the bones. It also reduces the brain’s ability to react quickly. Sustained high levels of ketones in the blood can lead to a coma.
4. Many Americans are fond of the “meat and potatoes” diet. This diet lets them eat all the meat they want, and does not urge any yucky whole grains, cooked carrots or the like.
5. Eliminating sweets, such as a Danish, chocolate chip cookies, soft drinks, candy, etc. would reduce most intakes by 300-600 calories a day. This alone would drop the pounds.
In summary, although the low carb diet has, for the third time in my professional experience, swept the country, the disadvantages to health far outweigh the advantages. Very few competent health professionals recommend this regime.
Normal weight reduction is difficult, boring and totally against the lifestyle of our current society. Stay tuned-I will address some safer ways to drop those extra pounds in my next article.
Written by: Rose Stoia EdD, RD
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